‘Pols out to sabotage 2010 automated elections’
AMITA LEGASPI and KIM TAN, GMANews.TV
11/04/2009 | 09:35 PM
Some unscrupulous politicians are planning to sabotage next year’s automated elections, a senator bared on Wednesday.
Senator Richard Gordon however could not substantiate his claims, saying only that he’d been receiving reports that some congressmen are planning to stop the implementation of the automated elections.
“There are some people who are desperate. Natatakot sila na mahina yung kanilang kandidato (They are afraid that their bets would lose)," he said even as he expressed doubts that these politicians would succeed.
“Hindi ko ipaglalaban yan passionately kung hindi ko nakikita na magwo-work yan (I would not have fought for it passionately if I did not see that it will work)," said the author of the Republic Act 9369 or the Amended Automated Elections System Law.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), on the other hand, dismissed the possibility of sabotage.
“Just trust the Comelec that we would ensure clean, honest and orderly elections in 2010," said Commissioner Ferdinand Rafanan in an earlier interview.
The poll body even said the machines that will be used in the 2010 elections can even run without electricity.
“The machines can work on batteries for a total of sixteen hours, so even with a brownout, the machines will still work," Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez.
The National Power Corporation (Napocor) said that it would require six billion pesos to ensure sufficient power supply on election day.
Renato Garcia, IT consultant of Comelec chairman Jose Melo, told reporters that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines work like portable computers, which can run on backup power.
“Since these are practically laptops, backup power is not really a problem and consumption of energy is very low," he said.
A total of 42, 200 PCOS machines will arrive in December while another 40,000 will be delivered in January. - GMANews.TV
Senator Richard Gordon however could not substantiate his claims, saying only that he’d been receiving reports that some congressmen are planning to stop the implementation of the automated elections.
“There are some people who are desperate. Natatakot sila na mahina yung kanilang kandidato (They are afraid that their bets would lose)," he said even as he expressed doubts that these politicians would succeed.
“Hindi ko ipaglalaban yan passionately kung hindi ko nakikita na magwo-work yan (I would not have fought for it passionately if I did not see that it will work)," said the author of the Republic Act 9369 or the Amended Automated Elections System Law.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), on the other hand, dismissed the possibility of sabotage.
“Just trust the Comelec that we would ensure clean, honest and orderly elections in 2010," said Commissioner Ferdinand Rafanan in an earlier interview.
The poll body even said the machines that will be used in the 2010 elections can even run without electricity.
“The machines can work on batteries for a total of sixteen hours, so even with a brownout, the machines will still work," Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez.
The National Power Corporation (Napocor) said that it would require six billion pesos to ensure sufficient power supply on election day.
Renato Garcia, IT consultant of Comelec chairman Jose Melo, told reporters that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines work like portable computers, which can run on backup power.
“Since these are practically laptops, backup power is not really a problem and consumption of energy is very low," he said.
A total of 42, 200 PCOS machines will arrive in December while another 40,000 will be delivered in January. - GMANews.TV
